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Cal Chamber’s job killer list shrinks, but does its influence?

Image by zimmytws via istock

When the California Chamber of Commerce added Sen. Steve Glazer’s SB 1327 – a proposal to tax revenue from the sale of digital advertising as a way to help fund local newsrooms – to its annual list of “Job Killer” bills on May 7th, the measure became only the 14th this year to receive the designation. If that number doesn’t change, it would mark the fewest number of bills to receive the moniker since 2001, when only 12 bills were on the list.

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Capitol Weekly’s Top 10 Capitol power couples

The Capitol's Top power couple: Ann Patterson and Nathan Barankin.

In just a few months, Capitol Weekly will unveil its 16th annual Top 100 list recognizing the most influential members of the Capitol community. As we began researching this year’s list, however, we realized that in all our years of the Top 100 we’ve overlooked a critical dynamic of Capitol clout: the Capitol power couple whose combined prominence and rolodex is greater than the sum of their parts. To rectify that, today we publish our first ever Capitol Weekly Top 10 Power Couples, along with three up-and-coming pairs to keep your eyes on.

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The people’s lawmaking power versus the legislature’s

Image by Serhej Calka

California’s Constitution provides the three branches of government, as well as the rights of direct democracy. Article III, Section 3 provides the separation of powers among the three branches of our state government: legislative, executive, and judicial.

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Spending on lobbying firms topped $381 million through 15 months of legislative cycle

Two connected puzzle pieces with the words politics and money, representing the influence of wealth in elections.

Special interests, otherwise known as “lobbyist employers,” paid lobbying firms a little more than $76 million to lobby California state government in the first quarter of 2024, according to a Capitol Weekly analysis of lobbying firm reports.

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Turmoil leads to rapid rise for new Capitol lobbying firm

Flag of California in a mixed stack of coins. Image by eyegelb

Eagle-eyed readers of Capitol Weekly’s recent report on quarterly lobbying payments might have spotted an unfamiliar firm name among the top recipients for the first quarter of 2024: the Deveau Burr Group. Especially close readers also might have noticed that Strategies 360, a perennial top firm in Sacramento, was conspicuously absent from the list of top payees for the quarter.

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CIRM success story dies quiet death

Cancer cells. Cancer outbreak and treatment for malignant cancer. Image by Mohammed Haneefa Nizamudeencells in a human body. 3d illustration

A once-heralded research venture by the state of California that targeted “don’t eat me” signals that protect cancer cells has now ended. The potential treatment’s obituary boiled down to one phrase repeated six times and buried deep in a corporate document.

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Delaine Eastin: a remembrance

Former California Superintendent of Public Instruction Delaine Eastin. Photo by Scott Duncan, Capitol Weekly

Delaine Eastin, an impassioned and feisty advocate for public education and the first – and only — woman ever to serve as California’s Superintendent of Public Instruction, has died at the age of 76. In a statement released after her death, Eastin was remembered not only as the state’s only female Superintendent of Public Instruction, but also only the fifth woman elected to statewide office in California.

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Campaign expenditures aren’t as transparent as contributions, analysis finds

Loupe one hundred dollars banknotes on keyboard. Finding financial earnings on the internet concept

While California campaigns and election regulators like the California Fair Political Practices Commission have generally succeeded in providing transparency to the contribution side of the campaign finance ledger, they’ve fallen comparatively short when it comes to expenditures.

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Senate committee goes to the dogs…and cats

Sen. Janet Nguyen, Sen. Josh Newman, Sen. Rosilicie Ochoa Bogh, and Assemblymember Sharon Quirk-Silva. Photo by Senate Republicans.

A trio of bills aimed at improving care for animals at shelters cleared the Senate Committee on Business, Professions and Economic Development on Monday. The trio of bills collectively aim at reducing shelter overcrowding and improving record keeping around animal care while requiring more shelters to publicly report data on a variety of care issues, including the number of animals euthanized.

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